After many years navigating the high southern latitudes, the yacht Gambo, owned by Welsh glaciologist Dr Alun Hubbard, set a course north in 2009 and sailed to the west coast of Greenland to support a number of climate change research projects. This is a scientific adventure “Gambo Style”: big plans, limited funding, a mixed bunch of sailors, scientists and climbers and a roguish Gambo spirit that somehow keeps it all afloat.

The film was also made in “Gambo Style”: big plans, absolutely no funding, a mixed bunch of sailors, scientists and climbers that don’t mind being filmed, and a lot of patience for the video editing software that somehow made it possible to make something out of this adventure!

2) Any good stories from the making of the film?

The only funny story we could think of:

When they sailed Gambo back to Canada after the expedition, the crew ended up getting arrested by Canadian authorities for not clearing out of the country when they left for Greenland 2 months before. The boat was impounded and bail was $1000…

3) Background on the filmmaker.

Grant Redvers is from New Zealand and has a background as an environmental scientist. One day, he decided to quit his office job and go sailing to Antarctica on Gambo! That was the start of many adventures in the years to come on different sailboats. After gaining experience as a sailor, he was chosen to be the expedition leader of the ‘Tara Arctic Expedition’ during which the legendary boat drifted during 506 days on the Arctic Ocean with a bunch of French, Russians and 2 dogs on board! In 2009 Grant returned aboard Gambo, bound for the west coast of Greenland with a small video camera in hand. That was the start of the Greenland film…

Pascale Otis is from Québec and has a background as a biologist. She has done most of her research on polar birds in the Arctic and Antarctica, and has participated in a number of expeditions that led her to become more and more interested in sharing scientific knowledge with the general public. She enjoys photography, filming and doing video editing in her spare time…

4) Background on characters in the film.

The film presents the work of 3 scientists:

Alun Hubbard, glaciologist and owner of Gambo, has been sailing, climbing and undertaking his glaciology research at both poles for over a decade. He is currently living in Wales and working at Aberystwyth University.

Faezeh Nick, glaciologist. Based in Europe, Iranian born Faezeh is continuing her work on glacier dynamics and returned to Greenland with Gambo in 2010.

Jason Box, climate scientist. Based at the Byrd Polar Research Centre in Ohio, USA. Jason has been working in Greenland every season for the past 10 years. He works closely with US organization Extreme Ice Survey, installing their time-lapse cameras and using the data for his climate studies.

5) Any other film projects?

Not at the moment. Want to give us money to make another one ?

6) What’s happening now? – Filmmaker and characters

Grant and Pascale are currently back in New Zealand where they have been living on and off for the last 2 years. Grant just published the English version of his book “Tara Arctic”, about the Arctic Drift expedition, and has also organized a black and white photo exhibition of Arctic photography, from the Tara Expedition, that is currently touring the country.

7) What’s next? – Filmmaker and characters

Grant and Pascale are heading down to Antarctica in December with Students on Ice – a Canadian educational organization that takes high school and University students to the Polar Regions.